Need to vent... MPB are a fucking nightmare

[Fairkid]

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Is this why they sent you the box of chocolates?

It was for being a 'good customer' might give you an indicator of how much of a tart I am when it comes to camera gear!

[newfoundmass]

I've had really good experiences with MPB here in the United States, with my most recent purchase being last month when I picked up one of the Lumix primes I was missing. I've pretty much given up on buying from Marketplace, eBay, etc. because of bad experiences, and MPB and KEH both at least offer warranties.

I've also had the opposite experiences that some have had, where I'll send something in rated at one thing only for them to rate it higher and pay me more than quoted. Other than MurtlandPhoto, have these bad experiences been in Europe?

I wonder if they are overstretched? Looking at their site, for example, they say they've added 4305 pieces of gear in the last week. I'm not even sure how you would look over and photograph 4000 pieces of gear in a week without an army of people. It might be a situation where they've grown too fast? They advertise a lot these days.

Either way, it stinks that it has happened to you all.

[MurtlandPhoto]

3 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I've also had the opposite experiences that some have had, where I'll send something in rated at one thing only for them to rate it higher and pay me more than quoted. Other than MurtlandPhoto, have these bad experiences been in Europe?

I should clarify that I’ve mostly had very positive experiences with MPB and still use them on occasion. All the good experiences are why the bad ones were so surprising. I’ve had several instances of them paying more than initially quoted as well; that’s always a nice feeling.

[IronFilm]

9 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Even DHL would struggle to misplace something during that route.

Speaking as a former courier (DHL's B2B P2P subsidary being the only one I hadn't yet worked for in my city! I've worked for all other courier companies that have existed as B2B P2P courier companies with bike messengers) then I can say @BTM_Pix you're vastly underestimating the level of incompetence some couriers can reach. 

[Tim Sewell]

I've generally had good experiences with them, but it's always amused me that any parcel going either way between us goes from my house in Brighton, to Gatwick, then back to their original facility in... Brighton.

They did once let me fulfill an exchange (I traded in a C100 Mk2 for 2 XT-3s) in person, but it was clearly well outside their comfort zone.

That said, I did once end up drinking with a bunch of their employees at a pub in the city one Friday evening (this would be about 8 or so years ago) and they struck me as a great bunch of keen, intelligent and enthusiastic people (quite a few of them brandishing nice old film cameras).

[MrSMW]

Possibly the UK division is better than the EU brigade.

Brits living in the UK like to complain about all kinds of things, but as a Brit living in France, I can state for the record that the UK is MILES (miles not km) ahead of certain parts of the EU for customer service.